The lowlands resemble the coastal belt. Here are fertile plains of clay, with innumerable lakes, including Vener, Vetter, Malar and Hjelmar with areas respectively 2,141, 733, 444 and 185 sq. miles. The scenery is quietly beautiful, especially of Malar, in the pleasant environs of the city of Stockholm. Granulite, also called eurite and halleflinta, is the most important of the Archaean formations and contains all the metalliferous deposits of Sweden. The rock is a very compact and fine-grained mixture of felspar, quartz and mica, often grading into mica schist, quartzite and gneiss. The Cambrian and Ordovician strata occur in isolated patches. The deposits in most places are very little disturbed and form horizontal or slightly inclined layers. South of Vener they are capped by thick beds of eruptive diabase. Conspicuous local features are the eskers, or gravel-ridges (dsar) ioo to 200 ft. in height, in direction north-north-west. Their practical value lies in their excellent water supply and gravel. South of the central lowlands the Smaland highlands lie in the heart of Gota land and are a detached part of highland Sweden. They lie roughly south of Vetter and reach the south-west coast. The general elevation of this region exceeds 30o ft., and in the eastern part 600 ft.; the principal heights are Tomtabacken (1,105 ft.) and Galtasen (1,188 feet). There is much coniferous forest, but agriculture is profitable. The Smaland highlands abut south ward upon the plains of Skane. Newer rocks of Cretaceous and Jurassic ages, together with recent marine deposits, have yielded level plains, with rich open meadows and cultivated lands, the monotony of which is in some parts relieved by beech woods. The Triassic formation (Rhaetic) in the northern part of Mal mohus consists of sandstones and clay beds with coal.
On the whole the rivers of south Sweden are few and short. Lake Vener is drained to the Kattegat by the short GOta river, on which, near the lake, are the celebrated falls of Trollhattan.
The island belt is widest (45 m.) off the city of Stockholm (noted for its beautiful sea approach). Farther north, only the narrow Alands Haf lies between the Swedish coast and the vast Aland archipelago, which extends to Finland. The skiirgdrd islands as a whole are rugged and picturesque; in the Baltic several are well wooded, but the majority, particularly in the Gulf of Bothnia, are bare or heath-clad. For the large islands Oland and Gotland see separate articles.
than I31° of latitude; about 15% of its area is within the Arctic Circle; the boundary mountains are sufficiently high to be much colder than the adjacent coastal lands, but are not high enough to shut out entirely the warming effects of those drifts of wind and water from the south-west which give Norway its remarkable climate; the eastern and southern borders are washed by the sea; the piercing winter winds from the great Russian pool of cooled atmosphere can sweep westwards over the Swedish lowlands or can reach the mountain tops which, on the whole, offer but moderate gradients for ascents. February is the coldest month and has a mean temperature of below 32° F over Sweden. Stockholm aver ages 25.7°, Goteborg 30.4°, Haparanda io.6°, but the coldest re gion is in the heart of Lappland; here the average for Karesuando is 5.2°. In some northern parts frost occurs in every month of the year, and at Karesuando only five months have a mean tempera ture above freezing point. July is generally the warmest month. Goteborg has a July mean of 62.2° ; Stockholm of 62° ; Hapa randa, 59° and Karesuando 54.2°. The summer is short but high maxima are sometimes recorded; e.g.,88° at Karasjok in Lappland.
The relative length of the seasons shows contrasts resembling those of temperature. At Karesuando the last day-frost of spring occurs on an average on June 15, and the first of autumn on Aug. 27, while at Stockholm four and a half months, and at Hven in the Sound more than six months are frostless. Ice forms in October in the north and breaks up in May or June, while in the midlands and south the corresponding months are late Novem ber and April. The ice-covering of the lakes ranges from roo days annually in the south to upwards of 200 days in the north, though local increases of the ice period occur in the upper Smaland high lands. Drifting sea-ice generally appears in the Kattegat in Jan uary; but the Sound becomes obstructed later largely by drift ice from the Baltic. In exceptional winters, e.g., 1916-17, the Sound may be completely frozen over. Ice conditions in the Baltic vary considerably from year to year but usually navigation in the southern part of the Gulf of Bothnia is impeded from the end of November to the beginning of May, and in the north the gulf is covered with ice from November to mid-May, but among the islands it may linger until June.
The length of the Swedish summer day varies between wide limits. At Karesuando in 68° 26' N. the sun is continuously above the horizon from May 26 to July 18; at Haparanda for 23 hours, and at Lund for 171 hours at the summer solstice. Refraction increases the average length of the day by 3o min. in the north and by 15 min. in the south. More important is the effect of twilight, which results in daylight lasting without interruption from June 16 to 27 as far south as HernOsand (62° 38' N.).